Star Trek TNG: Personality Traits

I mentioned casually the other day that Worf represented the fight or flight response in the human psyche in a broader point about how each member of the bridge crew represents a different part of said psyche.  Especially when they were grouped together in a conference trying to figure out a situation.  In the first season they tried consciously to do this with different people chiming in on a subject from the perspective of their expertise, but it seemed forced and awkward.  And even a little out of place with certain viewpoints being assigned to the wrong characters in my opinion.  But as the show grew and improved, the different facets of the human personality and psyche embedded themselves in each of the senior staff quite naturally without much effort.  I thought I'd call them off the way I see them.  Feel free to agree or disagree.

Picard represents the higher rationalization and critical thinking command center of the brain.  All the information from the other facets are dumped into this central processing unit to be sorted out and examined for decision making.  Picard represents wisdom gained through experience that is needed to lead and guide us in our choices.

Riker represents passion, confidence, ambition, and organization.  Everything from the sex drive to the simple drive just to get out of bed in the morning resides here.  Our desire to make a difference and the love for our family and work/hobbies.  Any skill we have at all for commanding or organizing a situation comes from the Riker part of our personality as well as lust for life and sense of humor.

Data represents logic, curiosity, judgement, and creativity.  Logic and creativity seem like an oxymoron when lumped together, but they're not so far removed as all that. Curiosity leads to creativity and the desire for a logical solution.  We make a lot of our first judgements on situations and people with these parts of our personality.

Troi represents empathy, intuition, and the propensity for peace making and calming others down in stressful situations.  It's a no-brainer of course, and I know everybody else has drawn this conclusion too, but it's an important function in our personalities that a lot of people lack.  More and more as generations pass.  You may wonder why I didn't assign "conscience" to Troi, but I see her viewpoint as more of an emotional hub.  With the responsibility of directing all the emotions, it's hard to keep a clear bead on right and wrong at times.

Dr. Crusher represents our nurturing nature, common sense, and self preservation instinct. It's another set of qualities that many people are lacking nowadays.  It may seem cliched that I say nurturing of a mother character, but I'm just calling it like I see it.  Our desire to take care of people and/or animals rests here.  The Beverly facet is what keeps us from doing foolish things on a dare and tells us when it's time to stop any activity before we hurt ourselves.

Worf.  Fight or flight. Watchfulness. Worf is us with our guards up, looking, listening and drinking in details.  Worf is also our anger which isn't necessarily a bad thing if it's righteous anger that helps to direct a solution.  Worf is strength of character and pride in our achievements and our conscience that is always telling us what the right thing to do is whether we listen or not.

Geordi represents problem solving, optimism, and stubbornness. Too much stubbornness, however, would be more like a Dr. Pulaski.  Geordi always sees the alternatives in a bad situation and never ever gives up.  This is the place where all of our accumulated education and knowledge ends up to be utilized and exercised.

Wesley represents nostalgia and hope.  I complain a lot about Wesley and I've written loads of stuff pro and con about him.  But since his character was neglected and not as developed as the others, I have to base this decision on his youth.  Even those of us who would rather not relive our childhoods often long for simpler times before bills and providing for a family and responsibilities took over our lives.  The hope comes from a wide open future at such and age and also from the Traveler's vision of his transcendence in to something better. This is the core for whatever faith we adhere to and the notion that "things will be alright" when dark times fall on us.

Barclay is the only secondary character I will include in this topic since there's a little of Barclay in all of us whether we want to admit it or not.  Insecurity and primal fear.  Yes, these are mostly bad qualities, but our insecurities can keep us humble while our fear can keep us safe.

So, that's the way I see the cast of Star Trek TNG as they relate to the different facets of our personalities.  Some are stronger than others within different people and it's just a fascinating conversation piece for Trek talk.